Alden R. Walls '31, captain of the 9-1 hockey team of 1930-31,
was a perfectionist on the ice. He could body check with the best,
and his uncanny poke-checking started many a scoring attack. While
skating backwards, most defensemen can turn to one side better than
to the other. Walls practiced and disciplined himself so that he
became adept at going both ways. The Bruin defenseman was
exceptionally quick at going down to one knee to block shots on the
goal and then recovering quickly to get the puck and start a rush
up the ice. Walls was ahead of his time in that he was a constant
scoring threat in an era when defensemen didn't do much scoring. He
scored by being aggressive and by developing a quick, hard
wrist-shot. In his senior season, Walls scored the tying goal in a
3-2 victory over B.U. and he had the trick against M.I.T. One of
Brown's finest heads-up defensemen, Walls would have played with
distinction on any of Brown's great hockey teams down through the
years. He's now president of the Alden R. Walls Company in
Barrington.